Improvement in burial-caskets



UNITED STATES JULIAN A. FOGG, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BURIAL-GASKETS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,321, dated May 1 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIAN A. Foce, of Salem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Burial-Cases; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying' drawings, forming part of this specication.

This invention-relates to a further improvement in coflns to that for which a patent was allowed to me on the 13th day of December, 1865, the said improvement being made applicable to a straight-sided coin or burial-casket whose lid is secured by hinges or the like to one edge of the case and opens so as to display'the whole interior of the casket.

In my previous application a piece was removed from each side ofthe head part of the coffin so as to expose the bust of the body, the removed piece being secured to a lid, which was opened by throwing it back upon the top of the coffin.

The present invention consists in removing a piece from nearly the whole of one side of the casket, which piece is secured to the lid, which latter opens like an ordinary trunk or hinged box-lid. 1

The accompanying1 drawing illustrates my invention, and it is a perspective view of a burial-casket with my present invention applied thereto.

The casket may be made in any of the approved styles, and admits of the application of my present invention.

A designates the boX of a burialcasket, and B its lid, which latter is secured to one edge ofthe casket and opens backward, s0 as to remain in a vertical position when open.

From the front of the casket I remove a portion of its side sufficient to fully expose the greater part of the body ofthe corpse, and attach the removed piece or pieces at a to the lid of the cofn in such manner that When the said lid is closed the removed portion will t into its proper place, and thus elfectually close up the casket. The piece removed may be of any desired outline in shape, and of any desired length.

This invention in nowise prevents a neat and tasteful upholstery of the coffin, but, on the contrary, tends the better to display any costly and rich. trimmings with which it may be invested, and, as was the case in my improvement before alluded to, tends 'to detract from the burial-case that appalling effect eX- perienced when viewing a bodylying in a boxlike case. Indeed, the body has somewhat the appearance of one reclining on a sofa or lounge, and the effect upon the mourners and friends is not so depressing as when the casket is of the ordinary construction.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Removing from the side of a coffin or burialcasket whose lid opens backward so much of its front side asis required to sufficiently eX- pose the person of the corpse, the said removed portion being attached to the lid in such manner that when the lid is closed it will lit into its proper place and the casket be as effectually closed-as were it of the ordinary construction.

J ULIAN A. FOGG. Witnesses:

CHAs. DERBY, ARTHUR C. HALL. 

